Princess of Lions
by Lee Ra Eh
Summary: What if Shirayuki's father hadn't send her to live with her grandparents and she'd have grown up surrounded by bandits?What if this shirayuki no one knows met prince zen anyway?Would she have been any different? A story about a shirayuki living a totally different life.
1. Shirayuki of the mountains

I see two roads, one carved into the ground. Frequently walked, rode upon. Few weeds, plants, flowers poking trough it's soil. Trees bending over to the sides granting sunshine to the way.

The other filled with greens, made out of loose earth. Filled with colour, filled with life. Most wouldn't even recognize it as a "road". Because it's just the usual greens growing on the side of a road.

It fascinates me how this entire forest is made out of roads. Joining together the story of it's prime. I think it's fascinating how many things exist, that posses power that could kill us. Even things that could save our lives. And that we humans only look at what's given to us.

We needed a shortcut trough the woods, carved a road trough it's greens, and make our way to a single destination using this tool. We keep on using it, so much that the flowers that used ot grow there don't even bother to rise above the ground anymore. Even though there are much prettier roads in this forest that no one sees.

"I walk the one least traveled by and that makes all the difference" I smirked while thinking to myself.

A soft breeze picked up and my loosened hair started obstructing my view. I tried holding it back with my hands but little strands escaped me every time. All of a sudden tanned hands covered my eyes. Slowly pulling my hair back, putting it in a ponytail.

When The sensation of hands disappeared I turned my head to see who had sneaked up behind down behind me smiled a black haired boy with light green eyes.

"Ciaran?" I felt my hair tightly being held together by something. When I reached to my ponytail I felt a soft string holding an amber pearl in the air around the same height of my ears.

"what did you put in my hair?" I asked him. He smiled, " just a little something I bought from a merchant that was passing trough".

I looked at him doubtful "you..BOUGHT something? Why does that seem so weird to me?" "I don't know" he said while shrugging.I laughed and followed him when he stood up.

Standing next to him you could really see the difference between our heights. For a girl I was pretty average in height. Ciaran on the other hand beat almost every other man in our clan when comparing height. His hair was long and looked like black silk, carefully braided over his shoulders. His eyes reminded me a lot of the forest in spring time, emerald green with a few hints of grey.

"Why are you here anyway?" I asked him while dusting dirt off of my blouse. "your brother asked me to come find you" He said with a pleasant voice.

I sighed: "Isn't he a bit too old to be so concerned about me all the time?"

Ciaran laughed, "nah,I think it's cute" I crossed my arms while looking at him with a stern face "you better not tell him that" But I could see on his face he was goin to anyway. Not that it mattered my brother never cared about what Ciaran said or did to him. But when anyone else except me or Ciaran would say anything to him that involved his pure white skin,long silky blonde hair,his piercing amber eyes or his small and frail build...he'd freak out.

Once again I automatically started following Ciaran as he headed back to the village. In one jump he reached the bottom of the cliff I'd been sitting on. He looked up at me "need any help?here,I'll catch you." he said while reaching his arms out ot me.

I shook my head and pushed myself off of the edge of the cliff carefully landing on one of the rocks underneath. From there I climbed down while grasping myself closely to the cliff's walls. When I almost reached the ground Cirian hugged my legs and lifted me up, turned me around and slowly put me down on the ground. While he was still holding my thighs I pushed him away and looked up at him with a dissapointed face.

"you know,I could've done that by myself just fine" Ciaran nodded "I know." After he said that he walked of again not minding anything I said and I followed...

We reached the village soon after. When walking trough the gates Cirian simply pointed at me and said: "I found the little princess." After he said that there was a short silence...but soon everyone started smiling and calling my brother's name: "Fionn-chan,you're little princess has returned!"


	2. Growing up

Fionn-chan is 3 years older than me but he isn't much bigger than I am which is propably one of the main reasons why he looks so much like a girl.

The other one is that he takes after my mother, which isn't a bad thing since my mother is quite the beautiful lady, But for him it wasn't necessarily something he was proud of. Mother had blonde hair and golden eyes which he obviously inherited.

I on the other hand inherited my green eyes and reddish hair from my father. The only people in this world that I've ever seen with reddish hair like mine is my father and me.

I looked up at my brother who was sitting on the other side of the dining table. I noticed that long hair was something my family is propably very fond of. I mostly kept my hair in a tight hairstyle but loose it easily reached my thighs. Fionn's hair was shorter but it still reached his shoulders. Maybe because it was still moderately short he almost never did anything special with his hair.

I was pulled out of my daydreaming by the loud shouting of the clan members who were having a feast on the other tables. I looked around the table as it slowly got trough to me that the reason for their shouting was none other than my birthday.

I started laughing at myself and how much I'd been dreaming the last hours.

"I can't believe my girl is actually turning 17" My dad lifted his drink and took a big gulp before slamming it back on the table. True boorish behaviour, but nothing less that I would suspect from my dad.

The entire gang went along with his optimism and started gulping down like there was no tomorrow.

Reina, Ciaran's sister was seated next to me and she offered me a cup of ricewine. " you may be turning into an adult,but it doesn't change that your a lightweight" she laughed.

" Do I have to?"

I asked her while holding the cup and looking at the transparent fluid. She laughed and patted my head. "go make your dad proud little princess." The entire room was looking at me as I kept on staring into the cup.

I sighed "well...here I go".

With a fast and big gulp I swallowed the entire cup of ricewine tightly grabbing my throat after I swallowed it completely. Reina grabbed onto my shoulders "you okay?"

The ricewine was stinging inside my troath and it left a strong taste of alcohol on my tongue.I breathed in while I felt the stinging go down my chest. The moment I could breathe again I put my hand up in the air. With tears in my eyes I breathed out as loud as I could.

"se...seconds please!"

Everyone stared at me and started cheering. I could hear my dad laughing and the entire gang went along with it. While Reina was pouring me a new cup I looked at my brother ad Ciaran who was sitting next to him. Ciaran looked at me "Don't overdo it".

I tried nodding but I could do no more than smile and swallow my saliva trying to get the taste out of my mouth.


	3. When we're ALL hangover

Reina was pulling my hair into a braid and her fingers running trough my hair kinda helped to tone down the headache pounding in my head. Reina smirked as she saw me struggling

"Ciaran told you not to overdo it.".

I turned to look at her when she let go of my hair and patted my head. "says the person who kept refilling my cup".  
"not like you said anything."

Reina walked over to the door. "Is it that bad?" she asked me with a worried face.

I smiled and stretched my hands out into the air "I'm fine,just not the best first meeting with alcohol".  
She smiled and waved at me "well,I gotta go and wake up the kids be sure not to be late to dinner tonight ,you know how nervous your brother gets." I stood up and bowed "forever at your service miss Myrtill"

"silly goose"

When I reached the stables a bit later I saw my brother and Ciaran standing around Magafana,my Frisian Horse. Magafana was practically Ciaran's twin.

Pitch black fur,elegant yet fierce,fearless,noble but most of all much bigger than any of the other horses our clan owned. My father gave her to me on my fifth birthday. Little as I was,I was never able to reach her sadle on my own. What would you expect she was at least 3 feet bigger than me,propably even more. Really it was ridiculous.

When she noticed me entering the stable she turned her head to me. Ciaran automatically did the same thing and they were so in synch I had to surpress my laughter behind the jacket I was holding.

"Good morning" Ciaran said while inspecting me from top to bottom. "How you feeling?"

I patted Magafana and smiled at Ciaran.  
"Awful actually"

I put on my jacket and dusted of my shoes before opening Magafana's stable's door. I saw Fionn-chan looking at me with a worried face in the corners of my eyes and turned my head to look at him.  
"Don't worry,I'm fine."

Fionn-chan smiled and put his arm around my shoulder. "You're growing up huh... I still remember when I turned 17"  
Ciaran interrupted him in the middle of his sentence.

"Well drinking like she did yesterday is something that was more normal when you were 17" He walked over to Magafana and took her rein out of my hands. I started walking behind him,my brother still leaning on my shoulder as he leaded her out of the stables.

"Was he that bad ?" I asked.

Fionn-chan let go of me and crossed his arms.  
"I wasn't bad in the least...I...just became a man much sooner than the normal person."

Ciaran let go of Magafana when we reached two other horses that were standing outside the stables.  
"If being a man means getting drunk and acting like a fool when only being a naive 15 year old I'm starting to doubt humanity" Fionn-chan laughed "I get it, I get it so stop sulking."

Ciaran walked up to Fionn-chan and ruffled his hair.  
"Hey Ciaran" I asked.

"yeah...?"

I smiled and walked over to Magafana getting ready to mount her. "Are you hangover?" Ciaran looked at me surprised and as soon as Fionn-chan heard me say that he burst out into laughter but soon tried pushing down his laughter.

"...Shut up" said Ciaran.

"oh,so cute" Fionn-chan joked.

"says the little boy that looks like a girl." To my surprise Fionn-chan didn't answer to that. Ciaran helped me up on Magafana and he just kept quiet as he and Fionn-chan mounted their own horses.

"So would you guys mind telling me why you are conveniently also on your horses when I just wanted to go make a tour on mine?"  
"Well you were obviously planning to just disappear again for the entire day,am I right?"

"I never said that"

"that's the thing,you never do. for one day would you mind sparing me the heart attacks?" Fionn-chan asked me while he put his hair into a ponytail.

I smiled. "Great now I get to spend my first day as a 17 year old with 2 drunkards"

"easy there lady" Ciaran said while we slowly rode our horses outside the camp. The rest of our journey to the city started slowly and filled with jokes and laughs but it quickly escalated into a race.

The wind that rushed by me as we rode down the mountain felt awfully similar to the wind I'd felt when standing on it's top the day before. It came to me,as sand rised up from the road that the same things could be felt when moving,when going forward than when you're just standing still,resisting any movement

That this world had many places where these things could happen. That thought kinda scared me.

No matter how hard we believe we live our lives however we want there are some things that this world will never keep from you. Meeting that one person the world has planned out for you to meet, is something that you'll just have to accept. But who knows, that doesn't actually sound that bad,does it?


	4. The start of a war

The capital city of Tanbarun had always seemed like another world to me. Instead of being a place where you know everyone and everything it's a place where you only know your family,friends and maybe your nearest that isn't even a bad thing. Because I know that this city,this country is filled with people intoxicated with greed.

I know this because my clan's entire existance relies on this fact.

Fionn and Ciaran rode ahead of me talking about something I couldn't fully understand. I was too entranced by the sunrise to even bother joining the conversation. I followed the horizon until I saw the castle towering above the city. I smiled and guided Magafana to ride next to Ciaran.

"So... what are we gonna do in the city? I thought you guys going with me meant we were going to a place I wanted to go to." Ciaran looked at me."So you don't wanna go to the city?" I shook my head. "That's not it,actually it's been a wile since I saw Lylla,so great timing."

"Lylla as in the pharmacist's daughter?" Fionn asked. "yeah" I brushed my ponytail over my shoulder. "But anyway like I asked before,why the city?"

Ciaran handed me a paper. I patted Magafana on his head and then let go of the leash. When I unfolded the paper a dry Yura shigure flower lost a few of it's petals to the sudden wind. "A Yura? Like...our logo?" Fionn nodded "someone send it to us"

"It's dry so..." Ciaran added. "A declaration of war?" I asked them. They both nodded "propably."

"mmm..then you're going over to jessen's place huh?" I folded the paper back together and handed it back to Ciaran. "Let me guess you don't want me to come with you to jessen's place."

Fionn looked at me worried. "I know you like to help us with these kind of things and I admit that you're one hell of a mountain lion but... the things you do as our doctor is more than enough. To be honest you're still a girl and if it's something as serieus as this..."

"You don't want me getting hurt...I get it" I interrupted Fionn with a smile."Don't worry I won't meddle,I won't be going with you guys to Jessen's place then..Knowing more about it will just make me curious." Ciaran had kept his worried face the entire time but it quickly changed when Fionn and I started talking about Lylla.

We reached the city a bit later and left our horses in the stable of the town's baker. His daughter often gave us free bread and other confectionaries when there were any left. I've always thought she had a crush on Ciaran,no I'm prettu sure she does.

While we were exiting the stables she ran over to us and handed me a bag. I felt a soft warmth in my hands as I held the bag. "We had some dough left from the croissants just now so I made some butter cones,hope you like them!" I nodded. By the time I'd turned around to say "see ya later" to Ciaran and Fionn I instead found a crowded market with no silver or silk black hair in sight.

"so mean,aren't they?" I walked trough the crowd until I reached a low bridged that went over the marketplace. While crossing the bridge I noticed a huge crowd standing around two men fighting. I looked closely and saw a banner whith "martial arts competition" written on it.

One of the guys that was fighting intrigued me. He had very fierce eyes,just as fierce as his fighting style but even with al that rage he managed to keep his fighting graceful. He made almost no unessesary movements.

" He's pretty good" I muttered to myself. But someone like him who had a near psycho face while fighting other people he could actually injure meant only one thing. He's like a carefully trained war machine ready to break. Or more like all the hitman's I'd ever met in my life,who else in this world would kill people for a job.

After all a job is basically the reflection of the person you are. I continued on walking as I tried to block out the sound of cheering behind me. That match had been decided before it ever began.

I reached Lylla's father's pharmacy a few minutes later. Outside the shop hang an iron board with Manshire Pharmacy written onit. Instead of entering trough the front door I made my way inside trough a small side door that led to the place where they prepared the medicine.

In the corner of the room stood a small and frail figure with her brown hair braided into two seperate braids.

Lylla didn't even notice me entering until the door shut behind me. She looked behind her where I awaited her with a soft smile.

"Shi..shi?!" she dropped the masher on the ground and hugged me tightly. "I missed you so much." I hugged her back and kept grinning "I missed you to. She let go of me and led me to the nearest table where both of us sat down.

She poured me a glass of the tea that had been brewing there for a while. "What are you doing here, why didn't you come by for so long?" I took a sip from the tea.

"I'm sorry I was busy for a while and I just kinda forgot after that." She looked at me doubtfull while she twirled a strand of her hair around her finger. I looked straight into her eyes,who were a dark purple and finished my tea. "I'm sorry" She smiled and got up.

While she was taking of her apron she asked me if I wanted to go look around town with her. I happily stood up. "sure!" She ran over to a door that led to the shop and I could hear her asking her parents about going into town for a bit.

* * *

 **One more update before school starts again! I'll try to keep updating this story whenever I have time. I hope you enjoy reading it just as much as I love writing it.**

 **PLEASE NOTE THAT MY ENGLISH IS NOT PERFECT.**

 **If you see any mistakes be sure to tell me and I'll fix them as soon as possible ;)**


	5. The things I love, The things I hate

On our way to the market Lylla went to pickup some herbs her father had ordered. While she was talking to the merchant I caught a glimpse of another shop. It was a wooden table filled with wooden boxes, in every box a different kind of jewelry. Though I hardly wore jewelry a certain bracelet caught my eye.

It was silver and very light. Inside the silver a few turquoise crystals had been engraved. When I took the bracelet out of the box to have a closer look The crystals gave a bell like sound. It surprised me, the crystals seemed solid but after shaking the bracelet again I was certain they were the ones chiming.

"Those are rare stones." a voice resounded from after the table. There sat an old lady who was twirling a pitch black stone trough her fingers, almost like meditating, while she stared deeply into my eyes. "euhm... rare? Stones?" I looked at the crystal ones more. "this is a stone? Well I guess it doesn't really look like a crystal." the lady put the black stone on the table. "Call it a stone or a crystal, even I'm not sure." she smiled softly and I put the bracelet back into the box.

"Aren't you taking that one?" it would definitely fit you very goo..." she stopped in the middle of her sentence. When I looked at her again I found her staring at my face. "That's..uhm.. quite the rare hair color isn't it?" I laughed and pulled my ponytail over my shoulders caressing the strands of my hair. "Most people don't doubt that." She kept on staring at my hair.

All of a sudden her expression changed. "what's wrong?" I asked her. "that hair tie..." I looked at my ponytail that was tightly kept together by the hair tie Ciaran had given me the day before. I felt a shiver go down my spine. "could it be that this is yours?" I asked her. She nodded and It hit me; Of course Ciaran didn't actually buy it. Of course he took it from an innocent passerby. I started pulling the tie out of my hair when the old lady suddenly said:

"well it was..." I looked at her. "was?" she nodded and smiled. "I gave it to a gentle boy who helped me while I was going trough the forest." I couldn't believe my ears. The old lady took the black stone between her fingers again and twirled it around once more. "While I was passing trough the forest the wheel of my cart got stuck in a slope. He was passing by and helped me push my cart out of the slope, so I gave that tie to him to thank him." I looked at her doubtful. "nice guy?" she smiled. "could you be his girlfriend?" I started laughing. "No he's,I guess...closer to being my older brother." she smiled and nodded "I see,well when you see him thank him for me again." I looked at the bracelet in my hands once more. "I'll take this one." I said while smiling.

"Did you buy something?" when I turned around Lylla was walking towards me with a big bag in her arms. "yeah..." I quickly put the bracelet on and rushed over to her. "Here give me one." I reached for the bags but she quickly pulled away. "Forget it,no playing prince charming today." I smiled "But how will you ever be my princess again?" she grinned and held her head up high. "I'm always a princess! Well at least yours." she smiled in a mocking tone and we started walking towards the bridge.

"There was supposed to be a martial arts competition today,I guess it already ended,huh?" Lylla said while glancing trough the crowd. The corner under the bridge where people were bringing down the banner of the competition was almost deserted. "Yeah,I guess it's over" I answered her. When I looked at Lylla again she was talking to a fruits merchant I walked over to her. "You buying something?" she looked at me while taking out her handkerchief . "Yeah some apples,I'll bake you some apple pie" suddenly a strong wind lit up and Lylla's handkerchief slipped trough her fingers.

When she wanted to go after it I stopped her "You still have to pay,right? I'll go get it."

Every time I bowed to the ground to pick it up the wind blew it into the sky again. After a while I started thinking how ridiculous I must look. Finally it stayed put. When I knelt down to pick it up an unknown foot nailed it to the ground. I quickly pulled back my hand in order for it not to be stepped on. When I looked up I saw an awfully familiar face.

Having a closer look now, his eyes that had seemed dark and lifeless before were more of a hazel shade. When he bowed his head down even more to look at his feet they even seemed gray-gold.

"sorry about that." he grinned and lifted up his foot. I picked up the handkerchief as fast as I could and stood up. "no problem." I looked at his face and everything was so different from how it had seemed from on the bridge. His cold expression was much more light and relaxed than what you'd call cold. The massive smile he had while fighting was a small grin that moved his eyebrows closer to each other. That's when I noticed the scar above his left eye. "uhm..." I shifted my eyes away from his face. "thanks." I turned around and started walking the other way.

"You...You were watching me earlier weren't you?" I stopped and turned around to look at the boy. "When I was fighting,you were looking weren't you?" He asked. I grasped the handkerchief tightly between my fingers. "I was...Just like many other people were." He smiled after I said that and started walking towards me.

"But you're not like most people,are you?" he took a strand of my hair between his fingers and looked into their apple red color. "you smell like forest... if I remember correctly aren't there people that live down in the woods of Tanbarun,what were they called again?" I took a step back "I go into the woods often to look for herbs,that's probably why I smell like the woods." I interrupted him. "Herbs?" he raised an eyebrow and squeezed the strand of hair until it was divided into separate hairs. "I'm the daughter of the pharmacy downtown." I tried keeping my face as cold as I could but my hand was already reaching for the dagger hanging from my thigh.

"You are?" he started laughing almost like he knew who I was he was laughing at the excuses I was giving him. I was praying in my mind for Lylla not to come search me now; don't come now,don't come Lylla.

"then we'll meet again,won't we?...this city isn't that big after all..." I pulled my hair out of his hands and started backing out. The relaxed face,how normal it may have looked to me if I wasn't talking to him, was terrifying me now. "we won't." I interrupted him again. Of course we wouldn't cause I never wanted to again. I turned around and started walking away still grasping onto the dagger on my thigh.

"You should be careful,young lady." I stopped once more and turned my head around. "Not everyone's going to just admire that hair from afar." after hearing that I turned my entire body around and started searching for his figure,but he had disappeared into the crowd.

I ran back to the fruit shop hoping to see Lylla there waiting for me. She was looking around struggling to keep a ton of bags filled with fruit and all other kinds of stuff from falling over. When she noticed me she smiled. "Okay,I'd like my prince charming now." I felt the fright sliding off of my expression and my grip on the handkerchief loosening. I walked over and helped her bring back the bags to her home. She offered to make dinner but I couldn't stay any longer. I promised her I'd come by again the next day to snack, but at that moment I felt terrified of being in the city.

As soon as I reached the bakery's stables I told the bakery's daughter to tell Fionn and Ciaran I'd gone ahead and I rushed home. In my room I sat down in front of my mirror as I let my tensions go. Something was going to happen. I didn't know what or when. But one thing was sure. That boy had something to do with it, the dried up Yura had something to do with it and my red hair had something to do with it.

My awfully red hair,like a million times before had something to do with it.

 **OMG, SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! School has been so busy and i havn't had any time AT ALL.**

 **When I do have time I don't feel like writing at all :(**

 **BUT I FINISHED WRITING THIS CHAPTER (that has been inside my head for over a month now.)**

 **I hope you enjoyed it :) I've already planned out the following 3 to 5 chapters so they should be coming very soon...look forward to them 3**

 **JUST A LITTLE MORE AND "THEY'LL" MEET ;)**


	6. starry skies

That evening felt cold. The clouds had covered up the sky and the rain had made the grass wet. Thousands of raindrops started dripping from the trees' leaves, so much that they'll probably keep on falling till morning. I started to think about that morning, after all it was going to come if I wanted it to or not.

It was going to be cold and the grass was going to be wet. The sky was going to be foggy and while riding Magafana I was going to feel drops of rain,that had stained the trees with their moisture falling on my head. They were going to slide trough my hair, tickle my chin and make me shiver.

I leaned my head against the wall and looked outside. My curtains were being roughly shaken by the wind that had gotten stuck under the roof of the porch and had failed to find it's way trough the trees. I could've closed my blinds and prevented my room from becoming as cold as it was. Preventing me from sitting there covered and wrapped up in multiple blankets. And now,looking at the rain I feel oddly comforted. Like the rain was trying to cheer me up.

I knew I had to tell everyone what had happened at the market place. Surely now I was almost sure he had something to do with the dried Yura we'd gotten. I curled up. In my head I encouraged myself time and time again. But I didn't understand why even though I felt encouraged every time I did I still felt terribly scared.

That guy's eyes kept on haunting me.

That's what I didn't understand. Growing up surrounded by people who had the exact same faces I'd guess I was used to it. In my life my haircolor, and my lineage had caused me to get used to those kind of situations. And yet at that time all I could do was shiver and struggle to keep my inner scream from showing on my face. I wondered what about that guy had made me so terrified.

I touched my lips and felt them getting dry and rough. I muttered to myself as I rubbed my lips together; "yeah, it's going to be cold in the morning."

That night I woke up because of that same wind. My blinds were closed and my curtains neatly tied together. I rubbed my eye making them red. As I got up and walked over to the door I caught a smell of a sweet smell and I knew Reina had been in my room. I went outside and looked at the sky. It was clear and I could see countless stars. They looked like the raindrops from the evening before. The more I thought they looked like them the more I had the feeling they could fall down any moment. Just like the drops of water on the trees' leaves.

I smiled as nothing happened in the sky.

I decided to go take a little ride with Magafana. When I reached the stables it took her a while to notice me. I laughed "It's dark out,I know..." I patted her head. "Wanna go look at the stars?"

It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. Though the air felt moist and it was foggy it wasn't cold.I found my way to the cliff I usually go to in order to be away from everything.I had to leave Magafana at the bottom cause for some strange reason she can't stand heights. While climbed up the cliff I felt a chilly breeze.

The sky was as magnificent as I thought it would be. I had gone outside around this time before but the sky had never been as clear as it was today. I thought it was rather fishy since it had been raining so much, I suspected at least a few clouds to still haunt the sky. But it was totally clear.

I started comparing the stars and water droplets again. All of a sudden the dark sky was parted by a falling star and it looked so much like a raindrop falling. I reached my hand out into the sky and that's when I noticed the silver bracelet on my wrist. I shook my hands along with the night time breeze and it chimed. Almost like little bells you'd put on a cat.

As I kept on staring into the turquoise stones I made up my mind. I had to tell everyone about what happened. I just had to, no I was sure I would've anyway. This isn't just about me after all. Though I was pretty sure my hair had something to do with the moment they send that Yura to the clan they brought 'war' upon all the lions.

"It's not just about me anymore." I thought to myself. I started thinking about all the previous times my hair had caused trouble for the clan. It would happen now and then that I'd get kidnapped to be sold of somewhere but the clan always came to save me. "I'm already 17 I can't expect to be able to depend on them for the rest of my life."

I took a deep breath. "sorry bro,but I'm not gonna use you guys as a shield this time."

I decided that I would go to Jessen's place when dawn came, that way I could also keep my promise with Lylla. He was going to tell me everything he had told my brother and Ciara and I was gonna make sure of it. "I'll give him a piece of my hair to sell if I have to bribe him." I laughed at my determination and started caressing my hair.

I looked at the sky once more,

When suddenly from behind me I could hear Magafana. "Magafana? What's wrong?" I started walking to the edge of the cliff and looked down, searching for her figure. "Why are you so black? I can't see you at all." I whispered to myself.

The only thing I remember after that is a stinging in my head and a last cry of Magafana.


	7. Little mouse

My head hurt just as much as my neck did. I tried opening my eyes but all I could see in front of me was darkness. Thinking, no hoping I just hadn't opened my eyes yet I closed them again. I opened them. Black. I was somewhere that was dark and cold.

It wasn't supposed to be this cold.

When I tried to move my hands I felt a stinging around my wrists. How harder I pulled how harder the rope carved itself into my flesh. I stopped struggling and leaned back against the wall. All of a sudden I heard a loud noise from the distance, like an iron door closing. The darkness was lit up by a torch. I looked up at the man that was holding the torch.

He was thin but still strongly build and he had his dark hair in a small tail. Next to him stood another man. He also had black hair, fierce eyes and a scar... He smiled when I he saw I recognized him. "The guy from the market..." I whispered

other guy looked up and then changed his gaze to the guy from the market. "Obi? Did you make contact with the target again? How many times do I have to tell you: stay away from the targets before capture." Obi smiled an put his hands in his neck.

"sorry,sorry it was a coincidence, I didn't know she was our target, Mihaya." Mihaya rubbed his forehead. "How many girls with red hair do you think live in the capital of Tanbarun,huh?" Obi smiled again and winked at me. The guy called Mihaya sighed once more and then exited the room leaving me and obi alone. He bowed down, looking straight into my eyes.

"hey,hey,little miss. I warned you though." He showed a disappointed face. "So you knew who I was from the beginning?" I asked him. He smiled "kinda, Princess Shirayuki right?" I laughed "You can leave the princess out,that's just a nickname."

"That can't do,Princesses are worth more." He took out a dagger. "that's...mine..." I whispered while staring at the dagger. He laughed and pushed the knife under my chin. I felt the dagger digging into my chin until a little blood escaped from the cut he had made. "Who are you anyway,are you and that other guy from some kind of organization?" I asked while keeping as far away as possible from him as I could.

"those are a lot of questions." He frowned. I kept on looking at him with the coldest expression I could've possibly made at that moment in time. He sighed. "My name's Obi. That guy and I have just worked on small jobs a few times before,nothing special. We just keep on getting the same employers."

"Employers? Who?" I asked him with a slight desperate tone in my voice. "Let's just say someone who's had enough of only hearing stories of the redhaired Princess that lives up in the mountains and has her own court of mountain lions who do everything she says." When I heard that I laughed. "You must be kidding." He looked at me with a blank expression "you may think it sounds crazy but that's the story everyone talks about. So,yeah."

I grinded my theet and shifted my gaze away from Obi.

He smiled a last time and stood up. He held the dagger towards of my nose and dropped it in front of me. "Just make sure I have fun. Lately the people we catch have been so boring." I looked up at him confused. He took the torch,and with that the light from the wall and exited the room.

I tried thinking,even though there was so much to take in. Thinking about how to get out and then shifting my thoughts to where I was and what was going to happen to me.

Even though it was dark I looked down and saw a slight silhouette of my dagger. Only then I noticed the slight light that roamed around in the room. I looked up. A few feet above me there was a very tiny window. I would never fit trough but I could at least glance outside a bit. I saw the moon and I wondered if we were so close by that it was still night. Or, we'd been travelling so long that it was night again.

I turned around grabbed the knife,cutting my fingers in the progress and quickly freed myself from the rope. "Luckily I'm quite flexible or else this would've take hours." I said to myself. i took a few steps closer to the window. and as I did I heard rustling. I looked down and picked up one of the many leaves that were on the room's groundand held it into the moon's light. "this is an Amori tree leave,I think? If they are we're no where near the clan,those trees don't grow there." I was pretty sure we where near the border of tanbarun. That's the only place where Amori trees grow, near the border of Tanbarun and Clarines.

I picked up the knife and put it back in it's case holder,that was still hanging from my thigh. When I put out my hands in front of me in order to find my way trough the room I stumbled upon a pile of boxes. "i could trow these over,i guess? But what if That Obi guy comes to check in and not the other guy?"

No,that wouldn't happen. Obi wanted for me to escape. Even more he wanted to chase me as I tried to. "i guess, I'm kinda lucky I have such a weird hitman on my tail." I didn't doubt any longer and pushed against the pile. When the boxes fell over they made an ungodly noise. I quickly heard yelling and I rushed over to the wall. it was made of bricks and the cement between them had been carved out over the years. In other words the cracks were large enough for my fingers to fit in.

Hearing the voice getting closer I quickly started climbing. the room wasn't as high as I thought it would be but it was high enough. I kept myself hidden inside the corner of the ceiling. My fingers started stinging and became red but I didn't care the least about that.

I had already made up my mind. I wasn't gonna be a Princess,waiting for her prince charming. Even though I never really fought before against real enemies. I had been trained by my father and the other clan members to become who I was today.

I could hear the sound of the iron door opening.

 **JUST A BIT MORE I think in 2 chapters xx**


	8. The stream

My breath was stocking and I felt a burning sensation inside my body. My legs kept on moving even though I stopped being able to feel them a while ago. I was grasping my hands against my chest while trying to keep myself standing. All of a sudden my breath stopped and forced me kneel down trying to control it.

It was at that moment I felt every sensation again. I remebered jumping down from the ceiling nearly twisting my ankle right on top of the black clothed man. I remembered the sound he made when his body hit the floor. I remembered me doubting for a single second and then rushing out of the room closing the iron door behind me.I remembered every single corner,every single hallway I had run trough. And most of all...

I looked up seeing the dark hallway in front of meand nearly started crying at it's darkness.I quickly forced myself onto my feet. immediately collapsing and falling to the ground scratching my knee. It was stinging ike crazy but once again I forced myself time succesfully and started running,or at least something that looked like it.

And most of all...the closed windows the closed doors,this darkness.I have been running for all this time and I hadn't even seen a single opening. I was completely locked up and it terrified me. even more so now I had decided I'd stop being the little princess.I wasn't her anymore. Growing up under my father's and Fionn-chan's wings and under the watching eye of the mountain lions I would normally just sit there,silently,scared until they'd save me.

Because they would always come to save me.

I stopped and looked outside the window. The sun had slowly started rising and trough the barricades I could see the second wing of the building. And it's second floor. I ran over to the window and pushed my eyes against the glass. "No...no barricades"

I'd found it my way out.

I hurried myself to the next wing and ascended the stairs to reach the second floor. Looking around at the windows I saw a particular one that had the shadow of a tree in it. I ran over to the window and threw it open when at that moment a bandaged hand violently closed it again pushing me against the window.

"I don't know how but you sure are one fast lady..." I turned around as black strands of hair touched my head. His eyes were fiercer than before and showed an obvious lust to kill...me...

I traced his forehead with my eyes and almost started crying. No scar...just those fierce eyes. He looked at me while he kept me standing on my bruised legs by holding both my wrists in his hand and pulling my arms up. I had a feeling that if I collapsed again he would pull my arms out of their socket so I shivered as the last energy poured out of my body.

He saw those shivers and noticed the scratch on my knee.

I screamed aloud when he kicked my knee making my perseverance break. He was now holding up my lifeless body with my arms that had become like a very thin thread. Ready to pop any time now. I cried as I felt the blood dripping from my knee onto the ground.

He dropped me onto the ground but put my face between his hand,carefully looking into my eyes. Into me... "shut up..." he whispered "I can't stand your words,the sounds make me crazy,I hate them so... SO JUST SHUT UP!"

I heard a loud sounds and opened the eyes I had kept closed the entire time. When I did I saw the man lying on the ground,unconscious. I looked up and there stood Obi,with a sword in his hand. "Too...loud... that's why I don't like with violent people" He kneeled down and brushed the back of his hand against my knee.

"What the hell was he thinking hurting a target" he punched the man lying down on his back and got up again. A soft wind opened the window again and I Looked into the small opening,at the sky that had become light blue by now. When I thought about the thing I was going to do the only thing that came to mind was; "who cares anymore?"

While Obi turned around and started sweeping of the blood from his sword I forced myself on my feet. Something that was easy even though I felt the pain stinging me in multiple places. And sat myself on the ballcony. I looked outside and under me I saw a small stream. I didn't know if it was deep enough; but anyway "who cares..."

When I said that Obi looked around and saw me sitting on the edge. He looked at me surprised. "you...!"

He tried to grasp my hand as I dropped myself inside the stream,but I was already too far away for him to reach"

After that all I could hear was water and a burning sensation from my knee. I could hear Obi screaming and wondered if I was dying as I slowly lost consciousness. But then I thought to myself; I don't care...

and softly closed my eyes,letting the stream pull me along.


	9. a similar familiarity

I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar sight,no it seemed similar to a familiar sight it just felt very different; much more unknown. My body felt like a puppet, I couldn't move. So I just scouted my surroundings with my eyes. The ceiling was a light oak colour, similar to the ceiling of my room back in Tanbarun. But this wasn't Tanbarun, it felt different. It smelled different.

"smells like flowers..." Only when i muttered those words I was able to feel my body again. This didn't mean I could move again but at least I could feel my body again. Let's just say that that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"it stings.." My knee was burning up. The oak coloured ceiling the smell of flowers and sunlight and the faint control of my body made me extremely confused. I felt my eyes rolling back and my eyelids closing and tried hard to fight against the sudden exhausting that took over my body.

I felt that the only way to properly fight back was taking control of my body again. I tilted my head to the left. I started shaking really bad and my view became blurry but even though this tiny action gave me so much pain the tears rolling over my cheecks surprisingly gave me some courage. I flexed my face as much as i could, forcing it into different directions just so my eyes wouldn't close. My sight stabilised and I could see a large window that gave sunlight acces to the room i was laying in.

All of a sudden i knew i was laying in a soft and fluffy bed, I knew my knee was carefully bandaged and all the other wounds I received from being swayed around by a river were also treated. I knew I no longer smelled like blood and dirt, I knew my hair was beautifully braided and I knew someone had cared enough about a stranger to do these things for me. When my eyes became used to the brightness of the sun I saw a blue sky filled with flower petals,caught prisoner by the wind and I felt so awfully safe that I smiled.

I stopped fighting and let my eyes close slowly.

"are you awake?hey? are you alright?"

My body automatically jumped up straight when I awoke. Before my body reached a completely upright position two soft hands grasped onto my shoulders and tried calming me down, as i was extremely startled and confused. I wasn't in my right mind and because I wasn't immediately able to see who the hands belonged to I tried pushing them away from me using my own. I instantly knew I had to calm down as the weak and faint resistance I showed towards the hands left my arms stinging like crazy.

I curled my head into my neck and shut my eyes tight covering my face with my cramped up hands. I couldn't move them yet so they stayed in a confused position, shivering as I tried taking control of my fingers once more. When the hands released my shoulders I sank back into the fluffy bed since the half upright position I was laying in hurt my back a lot.

I desperately tried shriveling up into a ball but was only able to lift my legs into a small angle.

"are you alright...?" as I had thought the hands that had tried to calm me down were accompanied by a soft voice. When I felt a hand patting my ribs from under the covers I felt my fingers curl up and pulling the blanket that was covering me up till my nose.

I opened my eyes and though the sunlight wasn't as strong as I had seen before I could clearly see a kind looking woman looking down at me.

She had mid length blonde hair, tied back into a low pony tail. Because of the evening sun her eyes seemed dark blue but inside the deepest part I felt like they were more indigo than blue. I sighed, something that seemed to amuse her.

"w..what..?" I asked with a hoarse voice. She smiled again and stroked my hair. "Are you alright now?" I felt like I had known this girl forever and without hesitation I nodded. "yeah..."

"You really gave us a scare you know...we suddenly found a girl on the riverside." she scanned the bed from head to toe with her eyes,straightening every small crease in the bedding and tucking in the blanket wherever she could.

"us?" I asked her. She smiled. "you should propably sleep, you obviously have not recovered completely. my companions went to the village downstream to get you some medicine. they left some time this morning so they should be back by sunrise."

"what? If the nearest village is that far why would you go there just for me? I can perfectly heal without medicine." her face became more serious.

"I'm sure you can, but that'll take time won't it?...look, I'm not gonna ask for specifics but... you propably don't have that time,do you?" she looked to the lower part of the bed and I put my legs flat on the bed once more turning my injured knee away from her. I shifted my eyes away from her face, afraid she would think that I actually wouldn't mind telling her 'the specifics'.

she smiled but from the corners of my eyes I could sense a feeling from her eyes. One that scared me a little. it scared me because it felt very familiar and the familiarity I felt from her eyes made me so at ease that I might become comfortable and trusty enough to tell her everything.

The fact that she gave me that feeling scared me a lot.

I nodded and just closed my eyes hoping she would leave thinking I was tired. Surprisingly the second I closed my eyes I felt the same exhaustion taking control of my body again. And I passed out before I could even hear a single movement from her side.

That night I didn't dream. More like dreaming it was like I was just thinking, thinking about the woman sitting beside my bed and how familiar she felt.

The entire night, I spent thinking. At some point it hit me. The feeling I got from her eyes, the way her presence makes you wanna pour your heart out. I felt like this, about someone I had never even met. Only because she reminded me of the thing I was propably missing the most at that very moment.

"I miss Reina..." even though I was sleeping I knew I had muttered those words but what was more surprising was that even though i was sleeping I could feel a tear gliding past my ear. It gave me a chill and reminded me about how weird this entire thing had been.

I knew at that moment that this time was very different from all the previous times I'd been abducted. Aside from the fact that i had decided I would stop being the princess of the story. The fact that I had decided that I would have to get home safe all on my own had really woken me up to reality.

The reality that it wasn't going to be easy, that I might never see the people I love anymore. Before this time I always waited, and people saved me. From the moment that I had decided to save myself my body became very aware of the fact how much effort my 'saviours' put into rescuing me. And at this moment I was going to have to deliver all of that effort on my own...

Maybe my body, my soul... maybe I already knew that I might not be able to save myself. And that's why even though that woman may not have been so familiar, the fact that she reminded me enough of Reina made my heart break.

The fact that there's a possibility I may not be brave enough to save myself and that that fact will make me unable to ever see my loved ones again made my heart break.

It made my heart break.

I thought of that woman again, that's right she wasn't like Reina at all. But in the few minutes I was awake I had the most calming conversation I had ever had... with her. After I completed my speculation on why she felt familiar I started debating with myself on how weird she must have been.

Me being injured and obviously not in my right mind, didn't ask the right questions: "where am I? who are you? what happened to me?..." and instead curled up like a hedgehog using my paralised hands to protect myself like spikes.

But she, being my saviour didn't mind me NOT asking those 'right' questions. Instead she looked me in the eyes, patted my head and with one look knew something in my life had threatened me into becoming someone who hasn't got time to 'stay'. Someone ho hasn't got time... With one look it seemed like she had found out everything about me.

That night I really didn't sleep, not for one bit...

And yet I woke up fresh, and weirdly comfortable.


	10. perfume

It was like I had been awake the entire time, like being awake for 2 days straight. But the weird thing was that I didn't feel the tiniest bit exhausted or tired. I was sure I hadn't slept that night, but I felt so fresh and awake. I sat upright and for the first time I properly looked around the room. It was actually pretty small but that only reminded me more of my home. I turned my body and kept my feet hanging above the ground.

I knew walking was going to hurt but I refused to keep on acting like a paralised person. As I clearly wasn't, or at least not anymore. I put one foot on the floor and the other slowly followed. I had to tightly grasp onto the matress to keep in balance. Instead of walking out the room my first thought was to have a look outside the window that had been staring at me all this time I'd been laying in that fluffy bed.

When I looked outside I practically only saw trees. Only the small area surounding the house was empty and only covered in low growing grass. I had guessed that we were pretty isolated since the woman from the day before told me the nearest village was at least a whole day ride away.

"Ah wait, I guess she didn't tell me if they went by foot or by horseback..." I shrugged and sighed "Either way, going so far just for some medicine for a stranger that's doing pretty good is ridiculous."

As I kept on staring outside for a bit longer a faint doubt and confusion started popping up into my mind. "wait... why aren't there any flowers?" I leaned outside a bit more looking as far as I could. "i'm pretty sure I saw pettals flying in the wind last time..." I muttered between my cringing, because of my stinging knee.

I turned around to look inside the room. "Didn't it smell an awfully lot like flowers here though?" I took a deep breath..."It's gone..." I made a dreamy expression. "Well it doesn't smell bad, since it's a forrest but I can't smell any flower like smell." I walked over to the door and (clumsily) opened the door to peek into the hallway. When I saw no one I opened the door completely and walked a bit further to look outside the other windows.

"no flowers...not anywhere" I scratched my head. "Was I hallucinating?" I asked myself. But by that time my knee was stinging so much I just decided to shake it of as that and started searching for a way to escape the second floor.

I quickly found stairs. "This is gonna make me reminescense" I said to myself as I stared at the stairs. Why? Because I knew I would be descending the stairs on my behind, one stair at a time. Something I did all the time when I was small.

halfway the stairs the front door opened and the woman from the day before walked in with a bucket of water squeezed between her arms. She saw me and her face filled with a surprised expression that slowly showed a hint of despair. She almost dropped the bucket while hastingly putting it on the floor. when she did she ran over to me.

"what are you doing?" she kneeled down to be at the same height as me and grasped onto my hands. I smiled, removed one of my hands from her grasp and started rubbing my knee softly. "I feel a lot better now, don't worry." I told her. She smiled a bit and assisted me the rest of the way down leading me to a couch.

When I sat down she sat across from me. It was quiet for a while but at some point we both looked up and looked each other in the eyes. I smiled "We had the weirdest conversation yesterday." she smiled as wel and bowed her head: "My name is Kiki Seiran, I'm a traveler and this little house is owned by the master that travels with me." she stood up after she said that. "Should I make some tea?"

I laughed and nodded. While she was on the other side of the room preparing our tea I looked around the house. It felt warm even though there wasn't really all that much present. It was a bit dusty but not to that extent that it bothered me. I thought it was weird, it felt as if they had bought too much furniture like cupboards and closets but didn't have enough stuff to fill them with.

"And you?" I looked up to Kiki who was staring at me with two cups in her hands. "I?" she smiled when I asked her that.

I brushed a loose strand of hair behind my ear and after considering my situation for a bit I looked up at her. "My name's...Shi...Shigure, like the flower!" She looked at me confused.

"Ah...the Yura Shigure is a red flower...I was named like that because of my hair." I patted my head. "I see... though I've never heard fo that flower I guess it does fit." I felt at ease when she smiled. She kept on drinking her tea. "Aren't you going to ask me?" She stopped drinking.

"Do you want me to?" I looked down and started stroking my hair. "Don't worry even if you don't want me asking I will still have to...My companions will be back soon and they as wel would like an explanation." she stood up and went back to the other side of the room again. I sighed and rubbed my temples.

"Was that why you didn't ask me anything last night?" When I asked her that she started laughing. "Even if I had asked you anything yesterday you were so 'gone' that you wouldn't have been able to answer any of my questions normally. And since you didn't ask me the obvious questions why would I force you to answer mine?" She sat down again and started drinking her second cup of tea. At that moment she looked down at my cup that I hadn't touched a single time.

"Aren't you going to drink any?" she pointed at my cup. "Oh, sorry...I will" I forced a tiny smile on my face when I told her that. "The tea smelled like all kinds of herbs, it reminded me of the forrest back in Tanbarun.

I looked up at Kiki. "This tea..." "Yeah?" she answered me.

"This tea is made with a lot of herbs from Tanbarun, right? This may sound weird but are we still in Tanbarun?" I brought the cup closer to my nose and smelled once more. Kiki nodded "You're right it's a tea we import directly from tanbarun, my master likes it a lot?"

"Import?" I asked her. She nodded "yup, you're no longer in Tanbarun Shigure, though this place isn't that far from the border...it's Clariness." When I heard her say that I sighed. "I see..." I muttered between my lips.

That meant that I couldn't try to find safety unless I crossed the border once more. Clariness' government and citizens didn't have any obligation to protect me after all.

"I guess it'll be a while till I'm home..." I sighed and looked up at Kiki. "Kiki...", she looked up at me "don't worry i'll tell you everything I can tell you. I don't really have any other option at the moment." She looked surprised but her expression quickly turned into a smile. " I see, wait a minute I'll go look where my campanions are, they're taking extraordinary long to get here." When she got up I heard some rustling at the door before it opened with a loud noise.

"How can they not have ANY medicine in a village where at least a hundred people live!" A loud voice accompanied by a more mature and softer voice introduced themselves into the room. they were having a pretty incomprehensable conversation until they looked around the room and saw me sitting on the couch.

At that moment I breathed in a sweet florescent smell. A big guy with blue hair and brown eyes was staring down at me and I was etranged with his sudden appearance. I could've stared at him for a while but suddenly another guy caught my eye. He was a bit smaller that the blue haired guy.

He had silver hair and piercing blue eyes. Instead of simply staring at me he walked over to the couch and grasped onto Kiki's shoulder.

"Welcome back, master." " Kiki." he interrupted her."yeah?" Kiki asked him surprised. "When did she wake up?" Kiki simply stared at him and after a while she looked at me.

I clenched my lips together and nodded my head towards Kiki. I stood up and bowed as deeply as i could've possible bowed "Nice to meet you my name is Shigure, I've been in your care.." before I could finish my sentence The guy let go of kiki's shoulders and walked over to me. I was startled and tried backing up which only ended in me collapsing because of my knee. Before I could fall to the ground the guy grapsed onto my shoulders and pulled me up.

This resulted in his face being awfully close to mine. The position we had achieved was something neither of us expected but he took the chance to have a good stare at my face. "...really pretty.." I could hear him mutter and in that moment I cathched another glimpse of that florescent smell.

It became clear to me that the smell was coming from this boy who was glasping my shoulders and only at that moment I realised that i had never witnessed a flower that smelled as good as the smell he dragged along with him.


End file.
